James Tanner has long been involved with the law of physics that states that matter is neither created nor destroyed; it is only transformed. For more than two decades his work with clay, color, and fire has paralleled nature's power to transform. Tanner spends many months creating his ceramic wall reliefs-building surface form and patterns on the underlying structure and then repeatedly glazing (âpainting with glassâ) and firing (some as many as thirty times) in the kiln. In many works the central image is a face/mask form, which represents for Tanner the spiritual essence of being. The elaborately painted surfaces of these facial forms (âeveryman/womanâ) conceal as much as they reveal and effectively merge real and illusionary space. The exhibition will feature Tanner's ceramic relief work and will also include several cast bronze reliefs and mixed-media constructions.

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James Tanner has long been involved with the law of physics that states that matter is neither created nor destroyed; it is only transformed. For more than two decades his work with clay, color, and fire has paralleled nature's power to transform. Tanner spends many months creating his ceramic wall reliefs-building surface form and patterns on the underlying structure and then repeatedly glazing (“painting with glass”) and firing (some as many as thirty times) in the kiln. In many works the central image is a face/mask form, which represents for Tanner the spiritual essence of being. The elaborately painted surfaces of these facial forms (“everyman/woman”) conceal as much as they reveal and effectively merge real and illusionary space. The exhibition will feature Tanner's ceramic relief work and will also include several cast bronze reliefs and mixed-media constructions.

Current revision

James Tanner has long been involved with the law of physics that states that matter is neither created nor destroyed; it is only transformed. For more than two decades his work with clay, color, and fire has paralleled nature's power to transform. Tanner spends many months creating his ceramic wall reliefs-building surface form and patterns on the underlying structure and then repeatedly glazing (“painting with glass”) and firing (some as many as thirty times) in the kiln. In many works the central image is a face/mask form, which represents for Tanner the spiritual essence of being. The elaborately painted surfaces of these facial forms (“everyman/woman”) conceal as much as they reveal and effectively merge real and illusionary space. The exhibition will feature Tanner's ceramic relief work and will also include several cast bronze reliefs and mixed-media constructions.